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Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs News
Oft-Used DSM Diagnosis Of Alcohol Dependence Shows Reliability Compared to other common psychiatric disorders, the diagnostic reliability of alcohol dependence (AD) as determined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) is relatively high.	16 June 2011
Tailored Treatments Targeted To Specific Subgroups May Be More Effective In Alcohol-Dependence Treatment People seeking help for their alcohol or other drug problems enter treatment with very different levels of motivation to change. Differences in motivation appear to make a critical difference in which patients seek, comply with, and complete treatment.	16 June 2011
Improving Understanding Of Alcohol's Damaging Effects On The Brain While alcohol has a wide range of pharmacological effects on the body, the brain is a primary target. However, the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol alters neuronal activity in the brain are poorly understood.	16 June 2011

Arthritis / Rheumatology News
FDA Approves First Ceramic-on-Metal Total Hip Replacement System The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved on June 13 the first ceramic-on-metal total artificial hip system for patients with osteoarthritis. Hip joints consist of bone in the shape of a ball at the top of the thighbone (femur) that fits into a rounded socket in the pelvis (acetabulum).	16 June 2011
Reclassifying Osteoarthritis Into Different Divisions Will Lead To Better Treatments; Better Imaging And Biomarkers Needed To Help Progress This week's Lancet contains a three-part Series on arthritis. The first paper discusses issues and future directions around osteoarthritis, and is written by Professor Johannes W J Bijlsma,University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands, and colleagues.	16 June 2011

Flu / Cold / SARS News
Heightened Immunity To Colds Makes Asthma Flare-Ups Worse People often talk about "boosting" their immunity to prevent and fight colds. Nutritional supplements, cold remedies and fortified foods claim to stave off colds by augmenting the immune system.	16 June 2011
Healthcare Workers Must Get Vaccinated Or Wear A Facemask For The Entire Flu Season Geisinger Health System vaccinated more than 92% of all employees against influenza this season, with a modification of a mandatory program. On average, fewer than half of all healthcare workers receive flu vaccinations.	16 June 2011
BiondVax Announces Positive Phase IIa Results For Universal Flu Vaccine BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (TASE: BNDX) today announced positive results from its first Phase II clinical trial of the Multimeric-001 Universal Influenza Vaccine. The vaccine was found to be safe and well tolerated, and induced robust immune responses, successfully meeting both the primary safety and immunogenicity endpoints, as well as additional secondary immunogenicity endpoints.	16 June 2011

Health Insurance / Medical Insurance News
Tecnalia Facilitates Starting Signal For Athletes With Sensory Disability Competing in races is the life of a runner. But, for sportspeople with sensory impairments, any race is one of obstacles. Tecnalia is working intensely on eliminating these obstacles.The system involves a series of wireless-interconnected devices in order to facilitate the starts in time trials for persons with sensory disabilities and thus enable the athlete to have a reaction time equal to his or her competitors.	16 June 2011
Specialty Physicians Turn Away Two Thirds Of Children With Public Insurance Sixty-six percent of publicly-insured children were unable to get a doctor's appointment for medical conditions requiring outpatient specialty care including diabetes and seizures, while children with identical symptoms and private insurance were turned away only 11 percent of the time, according to an audit study of 273 specialty physician practices in Cook County, Ill.	16 June 2011

Heart Disease News
Russia Transplants 1st Syncardia Total Artificial Heart Patient After 238 Days SynCardia Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart, announced that the Bakoulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery (BSCCS) in Moscow successfully bridged Russia's first Total Artificial Heart patient to transplant after 238 days of support.	16 June 2011

IT / Internet / E-mail News
HHS Announces Initiative To Stimulate Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Minority Communities The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Minority Health and Quest Diagnostics, based in Madison, N.J., today announced a program through which Quest Diagnostics will donate electronic health record (EHR) software and services to physicians in small practices serving minority populations in Houston, Texas.	16 June 2011
The Possibilities Of Social Networking And Health Three letters in this week's Lancet discuss social networking and health, including on how both doctors and patients are adjusting to this new method of communication. In the first letter, Helen Atherton and Professor Azeem Majeed (Imperial College London, UK) say: "As well as seeking to produce new evidence [on social networking], we should be using current evidence on how social networking might be used to improve communicationwith patients.	16 June 2011

Mental Health News
Pregnancy-Related Depression Linked To Eating Disorders And Abuse Histories One in 10 women experience depression during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. Although the problem has received increased attention in recent years, little is known about the causes or early-warning signs of pregnancy-related depression.	16 June 2011
Medicare Proposes New Standards For Community Mental Health Centers The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued a proposed rule that is designed to improve the quality and safety of treatment provided to more than 25,000 Medicare beneficiaries who receive care at Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) each year.	16 June 2011
Alkermes Initiates Clinical Study Of ALKS 5461 For Treatment-Resistant Depression Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) today announced the initiation of a phase 1/2 study of ALKS 5461 for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). ALKS 5461 is the combination of ALKS 33, a proprietary opioid modulator, and buprenorphine.	16 June 2011
Medicare Cuts Penalise Mental Health Patients, Australia The recent Budget cuts to Medicare general practice mental health items under the Better Access Program mean that mental health patients will pay more for their care than people with other complex and chronic conditions.	16 June 2011

Pharmacy / Pharmacist News
NPA's Training Courses Reaccredited By GPhC, UK The National Pharmacy Association's (NPA) Education and Training team is pleased to announce that the GPhC has reaccredited the NPA's medicine counter assistant, dispensing assistant and pharmacy technician level three knowledge based course until June 2014.	16 June 2011
Pharmacists Commit To Combating Non-Communicable Diseases, UK The Commonwealth Pharmacists' Association (CPA) has issued the Durban Declaration on the commitment of pharmacists to combating non-communicable diseases in the Commonwealth. Non-communicable diseases include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, haemoglobinopathies (including sickle cell disease) and mental disorders.	16 June 2011
Commonwealth Pharmacy Day - 16 June 2011 The concentration of healthcare activities on communicable diseases may suggest that in overall terms they are the primary cause of mortality. However data from 2008, published in the WHO health statistics for 2011, present a different picture.	16 June 2011
Parliament Condemns Cabinet Decision To Block Listing Of New PBS Medicines, Australia Medicines Australia today welcomed the Parliament's passage of a motion that the listing of new medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme should not be "subject to capricious political interference".	16 June 2011

Seniors / Aging News
Don't Get Tripped Up On Safety The National Safety Council will launch Falls Prevention week, June 19-25, during National Safety Month - an annual observance held during June to educate and encourage safe behaviors around the leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths.	16 June 2011
The Immense Burden Of Osteoporotic Fractures In Europe Revealed By Landmark Report A new report launched by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) in collaboration with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) reveals that the burden of fractures in Europe has been vastly underestimated.	16 June 2011
Comment On Falls Statistics, UK Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director at Age UK said:'The risk of falling over increases as we get older for many reasons, including deterioration in muscle strength and balance, failing vision and problems with medication.	16 June 2011
Olive Oil May Prevent Strokes In Older People, French Study Older people who use olive oil for cooking, in salad dressing or with bread may be doing much to protect themselves against stroke, according to a French study of three cities where researchers found seniors whose diet included a lot of olive had a 41% lower risk of stroke compared to those who had never consumed it.	16 June 2011

Sexual Health / STDs News
Newborn Syphilis Death Cases Preventable; Africa Most Stricken Low cost interventions to increase the coverage of screening and treatment of syphilis during pregnancy could prevent more than half of newborn deaths and stillbirths related to the disease, which is responsible for nearly 500,000 perinatal deaths every year in sub-Saharan Africa alone.	16 June 2011
Parents, Rather Than Friends, Are Teens' Sexual Role Models The results of a national online study show that 45% consider their parents to be their sexuality role model. Shattering stereotypes that parents and society hold about teen sexuality, the survey also revealed that only 32% looked to their friends and just 15% took inspiration from celebrities.	16 June 2011

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